Colombian President Gustavo Petro caught up in multiple narcotics trafficking probes, sources say
Colombian President Gustavo Petro is the subject of several ongoing drug trafficking investigations being overseen by federal prosecutors in New York, sources told CBS News on Friday.
The separate drug investigations, conducted in the Southern and Eastern districts of New York, did not initially target Petro, but his name came up during both investigations, one of the sources said.
Investigations are in their early stages and it is unclear whether Petro could face criminal charges, the source added. Being the subject of an investigation does not necessarily mean that a person will face charges, and the term “subject” refers to whether the conduct is within the scope of an investigation. A target is the direct subject of investigation and faces a high probability of being charged due to a significant amount of evidence.
The fact that Petro’s name appeared in several drug trafficking investigations was first reported by the New York Times.
The White House has not requested any investigation into Petro, one source said, and his name has cropped up organically during other drug trafficking investigations.
On He added that during his campaigns he “always told my managers” that no donations should be accepted from bankers or drug traffickers. Petro predicted that the outcome of the US investigations would ultimately help “dismantle the accusations” leveled against him by the far right in his own country.
Petro and President Trump have had a strained relationship. During a speech to the United Nations last year, Petro called for criminal charges against Mr Trump and also called him “the new Hitler”.
The Trump administration accused the Colombian government for failing to contain an increase in cocaine production. In October last year, Mr Trump called Petro an “illegal drug leader” and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced sanctions against Petro and his familysaying he “allowed drug cartels to thrive and refused to put an end to this activity.”
But a phone call in January appears to have ironed out their differences. Mr. Trump and Petro described their call as positive, and the president said the two planned to meet at the White House at some point.
Last October, the Treasury Department announced sanctions against Petro, members of his family, including his wife Verónica, and allies like Interior Minister Armando Benedetti, citing alleged ties to drug trafficking networks. In Colombia, numerous investigations have been carried out into Petro’s closest collaborators.
The most serious case concerns Petro’s son, Nicolas Petro. He was arrested in 2023 on charges of money laundering and illicit enrichment, accused of receiving money from individuals linked to drug trafficking.
In court, Nicolás admitted that illegal funds had been incorporated into his father’s campaign, but also said that Gustavo Petro was unaware of it. This is an ongoing case and Petro’s son is cooperating with Colombian authorities.
There have been other formal investigations into the financing of the 2022 presidential campaign, including one into possible illegal donations and spending limit violations. The subject of these investigations was Ricardo Roa, Petro’s former campaign manager and current president of Colombia’s national oil company Ecopetrol. He has not been convicted, but the company’s unions are trying to have him fired.
In 2023, Benedetti, now interior minister, was heard in leaked audio claiming he had secured huge sums of money for Petro’s 2022 presidential campaign and threatening to reveal damning information about campaign finance violations.
The audio files were recorded when Benedetti was ambassador to Venezuela. No charges were ever filed.
Around the same time, Petro’s chief of staff, Laura Sarabia, was briefly forced to resign due to another scandal involving a polygraph test and alleged illegal phone interceptions of one of his housekeepers. Sarabia was recently appointed as Colombia’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, even though she barely speaks English.
The news about Petro comes at a time when the Justice Department is stepping up efforts to target political officials in Cuba, CBS News previously reported.
Earlier this year, the government also sent forces to Venezuela to capture its president Nicolás Maduro, who was brought to New York to face criminal charges.
